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Browse All : Space Shuttle Orbiter of Mauritania
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Description
STS108-705-008 (5-17 December 2001) --- The "bulls eye" of the Richat Structure, photographed with a 70mm camera by one of the STS-108 astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, adds interest to the barren Gres de Chinguetti Plateau in central Mauritania, northwest Africa. The shuttle was flying at an altitude of 207 nautical miles. NASA scientists studying the STS-108 photo collection pointed out the structure represents domally uplifted, layered (sedimentary) rocks that have been eroded by water and wind into the present shape. Desert sands have invaded the feature from the south.
Description
STS031-151-016 Linear Sand Dunes, Mauritania April 1990 The western end of the great Sahara Desert is captured in this southeast-looking, low-oblique photograph of desert and coastal areas of Mauritania. This region of west Africa is a major source of eolian sand that is transported across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. Other photographs taken during Space Shuttle flights have charted the distance and areal extent that these west African dust palls travel. The yellow and orange areas are sand dunes and sand sheets, and the darker areas are bedrock outcrops. The major area of northeast-southwest-trending bedrock produces a downwind "wind shadow" effect on the landscape that extends to the coast. The northern grayish areas with little or no sand are rock and gravel desert plains. The peninsula of Cape Blanc protrudes into Lévrier Bay.
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